| Title | Line Mine: a Process for Mitigating Injection Well Damage at the Salton Sea, California (USA) Geothermal Field |
|---|---|
| Authors | Darrell L. Gallup, John L. Featherstone, Jessie P. Reverente and Philip H. Messer |
| Year | 1995 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | corrosion, deposit control, Salton Sea field, scaling, resource recovery |
| Abstract | Injection wells that, reinject spent brine at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field can suffer damage as a result of iron silicate and heavy metal scale deposition in the wellbore and formation. A process, known as Line Mine, has recently been developed to polish brines and collect scale deposits at the surface just prior to injection. The process consists of passing brine, exhibiting a of -5.0, through a conduit packed with coiled, galvanized poultry wire for a time sufficient to precipitate a significant amount of iron silicate and heavy metal scales thereon. The wire packing serves to filter some siliceous suspended solids from the brine, while simultaneously removing and recovering a small amount of silver, copper, antimony and arsenic by a cementation reaction. Scale deposition downstream of Line Mine (in surface injection facilities and wellbores) is greatly reduced. The useful life of injection wells appears to be extended as a result of this brine-treatment process by reducing wellbore tubular scaling and reservoir formation damage. |